9 Inspiring Women Your Daughter Should Learn About
It's important for young women to have role models, but they aren't always shown the full scope of life in the media they consume as kids. That's why it's important to expose young minds to women like the ones on this list, who have made a name for themselves in varying careers through hard work and determination, setting a great example for the next generation. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.
9 Women Making Their Mark
Dr. Rhea Seddon at the 2015 NASA Summer Series
Percentage Of Women In The Workforce
The percentage of men & women in the civilian labor force over time, according to the U.S. Department of Labor
| Year | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 29.6% | 70.4% |
| 1960 | 33.4% | 66.6% |
| 1970 | 38.1% | 61.9% |
| 1980 | 42.5% | 57.5% |
| 1990 | 45.2% | 54.8% |
| 2000 | 46.5% | 53.5% |
| 2010 | 46.7% | 53.3% |
Jasmin Singer Discusses "Always Too Much and Never Enough"
Intimate Partner Violence Statistics
- 35.6% of women and 28.5% of men in the U.S. report having experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime
- Nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States
- Women with disabilities have a 40% greater risk of intimate partner violence than women without disabilities
- Approximately 63% of homeless women have experienced domestic violence
- A woman is assaulted in the U.S. every 9 seconds
- Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women
- Men who witnessed domestic violence as children were twice as likely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent parents
- From 1994 to 2010, roughly 4 in 5 victims of intimate partner violence were female
- 1 in 5 teenage girls said they have been in a relationship where the boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm if a breakup was to occur
- Since 2003, 18,000 women have been killed by men in domestic violence disputes
Julissa Arce Shares Her Story
In Depth
In a society that makes things unnecessarily difficult for women, girls need role models. This list, presented in no particular order, highlights nine extraordinary women who can inspire people of all ages, whether they are activists or Wall Street executives.
Coming in at #1 on our list, Dr. Rhea Seddon was one of the first six women accepted by NASA's Astronaut Corps. She served as a Mission Specialist on two Space Shuttle flights and as Payload Commander in charge of all science activities on her final flight in 1993. She spent a total of thirty days in space and became the eighth woman inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Beyond her NASA career, Seddon has worked as a surgeon, licensed private pilot, healthcare executive, entrepreneur, and business owner. Today she's a national speaker and award-winning author who encourages young and old alike to reach for the stars. She addresses audiences around the country on subjects like inspiration, leadership, opportunity, and teamwork.
Today she's a national speaker and award-winning author who encourages young and old alike to reach for the stars.
On the list at #2, Beverly Gooden created the 2014 domestic violence survivor-led media movement, Why I Stayed, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the Top 10 Hashtags That Started a Conversation. As a speaker, she continues to address gender-based and domestic violence, as well as women's empowerment, social media engagement, and healing.
Gooden also writes extensively, contributing opinion essays to outlets like The New York Times, Time, The Sports Fan Journal, and Retyped. She is the founder of the Ella Mae Foundation, a nonprofit organization that takes a firm stand against the public health crisis that is intimate partner violence. Its Bolt Bag Project works to provide survivors with essentials needed to successfully escape abuse.
#3 is Marianne Schnall, a widely published writer and interviewer whose work has been featured in a variety of media outlets including O: The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, the Women's Media Center, and many others. She is also the founder and executive director of the women's website and non-profit organization Feminist dot com and founder of What Will It Take Movements.
She is also the founder and executive director of the women's website and non-profit organization Feminist dot com and founder of What Will It Take Movements.
Her books include What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership, and Power. In Daring To Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness, and Finding Your Own Voice, she speaks with figures like Isabel Allende, Maya Angelou, and Kerry Washington. The interview series continues in Leading The Way: Inspiring Words for Women. Schnall is also a public speaker and makes frequent media appearances.
For #4, we've got Lizbeth Meredith. A writer and speaker based in Alaska, she has worked as a domestic violence advocate and a child abuse investigator, and for two decades with at-risk teens as a juvenile probation supervisor. She teaches digital courses and consults with new authors interested in marketing post-publication.
Her memoir, Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters won five awards, and has been optioned by Cineflix for television adaptation. It deals with the two years she spent in the 1990s attempting to retrieve her children after they were taken to Greece by their non-custodial father. Meredith maintains an active blog, and regularly speaks on subjects related to gender-based and family violence.
Meredith maintains an active blog, and regularly speaks on subjects related to gender-based and family violence.
#5, Elena Rossini, is an Italian film director, producer, editor, and public speaker. Her film The Illusionists is a feature-length documentary about consumer culture and the marketing of unattainable beauty ideals around the world, with interviews conducted in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has been featured in Vogue Italy and New York Magazine, among other publications.
Rossini is also the founder of No Country for Young Women, a website whose aim is to provide positive role models for girls. She frequently speaks at international conferences and is a 2014 alumna of the prestigious Young Leaders program by the Council for the United States and Italy. Her follow-up documentary, The Realists, explores social media and self-esteem.
In the #6 spot, it's Dream Hampton, an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and political organizer from Detroit. The 2019 recipient of the Ms. Foundation's Gloria Award, her Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly was regarded as instrumental in breaking the case against the infamous R&B singer it concerned. Her other film work includes the B.E.T. docu-series Finding Justice and the Frameline documentary Treasure.
Her other film work includes the B.E.T. docu-series Finding Justice and the Frameline documentary Treasure.
An early hip-hop journalist, Hampton was a founder of Rap Pages Magazine. Later, she would co-author Jay-Z's memoir Decoded. Her articles have appeared in Playboy, The Hollywood Reporter, Essence, and The New York Times, among many other publications. As an organizer, she has worked on campaigns addressing the cash bail industry, violence against black women, and the need for prison reform.
Here at #7, Jasmin Singer is the co-host of the award-winning, weekly podcast Our Hen House, part of a larger non-profit media network working to change the world for animals, of which Singer is a founder. She regularly addresses audiences on the subjects of veganism and activism, and leads workshops and delivers keynotes throughout the country.
Singer's memoir Always Too Much And Never Enough deals with a journey of self-discovery that involves juicing, veganism, and self-love. In addition to her own writing, she acts as Digital Director of a vegan magazine, and works in the Communications department of The Pollination Project, which pursues a democratic model of peer-to-peer philanthropy.
In addition to her own writing, she acts as Digital Director of a vegan magazine, and works in the Communications department of The Pollination Project, which pursues a democratic model of peer-to-peer philanthropy.
The #8 entry is Manal al-Sharif. One of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world and Newsweek's top 10 tech-revolutionaries, she's a prominent voice advocating for women's rights and empowerment. She is known to be one of the first Saudi women to specialize in Information Security, with a career at Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world at the time.
In 2011, al-Sharif co-founded and led the Women to Drive movement, which challenged the ban on women driving in her country, for which she was arrested and imprisoned. For her activism, she won the first Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. A blogger and regular contributor to international media, she has written for many publications. She shares her life story in the memoir Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening.
Finishing things up at #9, Julissa Arce is the best-selling author of My American Dream, which tells the story of her life as an undocumented immigrant who became a Wall Street executive. Once named one of People en Espanol's 25 Most Powerful Women of the year, she is a leading voice in the fight for social justice, immigrant rights, and education equality.
Once named one of People en Espanol's 25 Most Powerful Women of the year, she is a leading voice in the fight for social justice, immigrant rights, and education equality.
Arce is a contributor for Crooked Media, for which she co-hosts a podcast, and CNBC. Her second book, Someone Like Me, is another autobiography, this one written for a young adult readership. Her commitment to education for all young people led her to co-create the Ascend Educational Fund, where she serves as chairwoman of the board.
